Comic 139 - Check the thumb drive

Author Notes:

You think about the thumb drive you found in your locker at the hospital.

You have no memory of putting it there.

Even with cleantex--and even after remembering the details of your own death and, apparently, resurrection--you have no idea how the thumb drive got in your locker. It wasn't there when you worked there... which means someone added it during the month you were dead.

You ask Fuse if he can check it.

"Yeah, no problem. You good to walk?"

The three of you head into Howler's room. Fuse disables the internet connection, runs another check for spyware, makes sure the pillar isn't active... and then plugs in the drive.

Contained within is a single file: a video.

Fuse starts it up. Depicted is blurry, shaky footage. It looks like... a homeless person, recording with a cell phone or camcorder. He slurs drunkenly into the screen.

"If you're watchin' this, I wasss right. All them richie riches are fffreakin' out about... somebody in the network not reactatin' right. Fffirst person in... ten years, they said. THEY think somethin'sss... wrong with the formula, but I know the TRUTH. We've known the truth ssssince the Lasker incident, haven't we?

They think yyyou're dead

but that which is dead
does not eternal lie

am I right?

Yeah.

So fffirst of all, it's an honor and a privilege madam. When yyyou wake up and find this video, consider thisssa... an extendated olive branch. Find me in tha old Rockwell arcade over in tha upper tiers, kay?

And if you're wondrin' how I got this in yer locker... it's the same way I ain't been thrown outta this here hospital yet. SAME WAY I FOUND THIS CAMERATIN' DEVICE. Same way I fffigured out who you was before they did.

Comments:

Oh boy.
1) So how exactly do people go into the Upper Tier? CAN people just waltz into the Upper Tier from lower tiers any time they want? Has any of us been there before?
2) And this Grizwald... do we recognise him in any shape, way or form?
Also, I already really like Fuse, he's growing on me as much as Jane Doe and Michelle already have. He's just a hackery-street-kid but he asked if Jane Doe was okay to walk, all considerate-like, and I dunno. Consider me a fan. XD

1.) Public transportation can take you between the tiers. It's just more expensive to hitch a ride to the upper tiers.

2.) On the clarity of cleantex, you do recognize Grizwald. You've seen him out in the streets a few times over the course of your life. He has been hoboing for a long, long time--your very first time catching a glimpse of him, he was pushing a shopping cart full of TVs around the middle tiers when you were 8. You've never spoken with him extensively, though you did give him a dollar once.

I guess we have a badass here. Alright, before we go, all I can remember that needs doing is:
-Try to get into the mysterious computer
-Search the computer room for presents
-Take a poster with us to see if we can find someone who knows the symbol (Probably Grizwold)
-Think of anything else we should think about while we have someone on Brain Drugs
-Search the TV room, maybe?

So now we know that several rich people are in on this, prolly the ones pulling the shots. They got some sort of nanotech... or bionanotech to control other people. The population thinks it's just weird drugs, but all of the actions the users of Queen are calculated.

Jane resisted the effects. So did a person named Lasker, apparently.
Implication: Lasker is permadead. Jane "got better".

"But that which is dead does not eternal lie."
Implication: bioprinted flesh monsters aren't the only Lovecraftian element in play.

Grizwald is either drunk or brain-damaged in the motor skills department. But his mind seems sharp.
Implication: Grizwald was involved in the production or development of SaveTheQueen and was backstabbed at some point. He's found a backdoor to regain control of his own body if he's had Queen injected into him. If not, which I personally hope, then his abilities are impressive, even with the apparent brain damage or drunkenness.

Considering that your blood is in Dr. Finch and you can sort of see through his eyes... You can definitely hear through his ears, so he can talk to you, and you can make him talk so he understands your commands... Whatever secure location Dr. Finch is in he should stay there as Jane, Michelle, and Fuse investigate the Rockwell arcade. Or, drop Fuse off with Dr. Finch and have both of them be your backup, doing research and hacking from afar while Jane and Michelle confront Grizwald.

As for Jane's hair... dye it? Certainly this advanced civilization has some form of natural-looking hair dye. It will make her more difficult to spot, if not making her totally unrecognizable to Queen victims.

Dying Jane's hair or at least putting a cap on it sounds like a good idea. I'd ask if Fuse has any spare eyeshields handy but an emerald-green eyeshield probably stands out as much as the bubblegum-pink eyepatch, so XD

It just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? Well, one thing is to finally question ourselves: why are we listening to the voices in our heads? IF SaveTheQueen is a drug that controls people, who's to say the voices in your head are any different?

It just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? Well, one thing is to finally question ourselves: why are we listening to the voices in our heads? IF SaveTheQueen is a drug that controls people, who's to say the voices in your head are any different?